


Turn to Rust

by koldtblod



Series: The Moonstar Lodge Reunion [2]
Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, F/F, Let's get tragic, Something About Summer: A Continuation, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:27:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28427010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koldtblod/pseuds/koldtblod
Summary: There's always another side to the story, and this time, it's Minnie's.Side-along piece toSomething About Summer.
Relationships: I mean. Sorta., Minerva/Violet (Walking Dead: Done Running)
Series: The Moonstar Lodge Reunion [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2056770
Comments: 7
Kudos: 8





	Turn to Rust

**Author's Note:**

> So, when I was writing [_Something About Summer_](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22548835/chapters/53882890), this was always the story I had in my head for Violet and Minnie. I've hummed and ahhed about posting it because, whilst all of my stories have an element of me in them, this one - whilst entirely fictional, yes - has drawn on some incredibly personal experiences.
> 
> If you were wanting something chipper to follow on from _SAS_ , this ain't it, pal.
> 
> I'm back to explore Minnie & Violet, and sprinkle some between-the-line tidbits that you might have missed before. This will not make sense without it's mother fic.

"I love you."

Minnie remembers the first time she’d ever said it, in the summer, in the fields behind her house before Tennessee came along, when she and Violet were golden. They were lounging in the grass — Minnie on her side and Violet on her back. They were drinking lemonade and pointing at the shapes they saw in the clouds, and Violet was playing some old-timey music through the speaker of her phone.

She was happy and Minnie was delighted.

It had been a year of ups and downs for both of them, but Violet hadn't sported a black eye in weeks and had a few days worth of clothes packed into a rucksack. It was Sophie who had asked — 

"Can Violet stay over?"

— and although she wasn't far, picking daisies to make a necklace closer to the house, it was Minnie who felt Violet's presence all the more keenly.

Violet had smirked, pushing Minnie in the arm with a snort and said,

"Ya, since when? Never heard you say that to Brody.”

Minnie smiled, looking at the ground.

"‘S’not the same," she'd told her. "Brody isn’t you."

She’d wanted Violet so desperately to understand but for Minnie, it wasn't easy to come out and say it. She wasn’t gay and she didn't like girls. She’d maintained that much for years — long before she met Violet and realised that actually it didn't change much. She'd told herself it wasn't a crush she harboured, because the girls that liked girls that still liked boys too were either faking or doing it for attention.

There was something unsettling in the realisation that Minnie herself was just the same. And she needed the distance. She couldn't admit it.

Violet had squinted against the rays of the sun.

"What're you sayin'?" she asked.

Minnie had shaken her head. Violet stared for what seemed like forever until the moment was broken, by Sophie's yells as she came running through the grass towards them. Minnie assumed it would all be forgotten. They'd gone down to the creek, they'd hunted frogs like they were much younger; they'd been 15 years old and acting the best of friends. Sophie never suspected a thing.

That night, she'd asked Violet when she was gonna find a girlfriend. Minnie looked away as Violet played it off, giggling softly —

"In my own time!"

— and then the conversation had turned to Marlon and Brody, to _how romantic, falling in love with your friend_. Minnie didn't miss the way Violet's eyes found hers, as Sophie prattled on, and whether it was merely good timing or something more cosmic, Minnie had never discovered.

She found herself kissing Violet, in the darkness of her bedroom, a few hours later, with the unspoken confessions and hopes and fears all rolling from her tongue and into Violet's mouth.

"I really do love you," she'd told Violet again, breathlessly, and Violet had laughed and hushed her real quiet and everything had fallen too fast into place for Minnie to stop, in the best kind of way.

She'd shaved her head.

She'd dyed her hair.

She'd ripped the sleeves off a couple of vests and Violet had helped and told her she was beautiful. Sophie had recovered quickly from the shock and asked why on earth Minnie hadn't told her.

It had taken another five months for them to finally admit out loud to everyone they were girlfriends.

But they were happy.

There's no doubt in Minnie's mind, even looking at the bleak expanse of their future, that once upon a time she and Violet had it all. It's difficult to pinpoint where it went wrong, but something had changed and neither were golden anymore. One day, the two of them were giggling as they shared a bottle of vodka behind the greenhouses one late Thursday evening, when they'd gone back to school. They were making out and sneaking into each other’s bedrooms and talking until either Brody or Sophie told them to shut up. They were best friends, they were lovers, they were inseparable.

And then, somehow, before either girl truly registered, they weren’t anymore.

Like a landslide, with no definitive origin, Minnie's romance with Violet fractures and, as time goes on, it gains momentum. The longer the path, the faster the speed. But neither realise until it's on top of them.

In the beginning, it's sleeping beside one another but no longer cuddling, no longer spooning and forgoing conversation in favour of staring at their phones. It's holding hands in public and leaning subconsciously into each other’s space, but drifting whenever they're alone. It's kissing each other goodnight but without any of the earlier passion and — for a while — both girls are content it seems to chalk it downto comfort.

They don't have anything to prove to each other.

They stop trying.

Minnie pushes Violet's hands away from her waist, from the hem of her t-shirt, on the occasions when Brody sneaks out to visit Marlon. She shrugs and shifts as if the touch of Violet's fingers brushing her skin has repulsed her, and then feels guilty and fixes Violet with a waning smile.

"I'm tired, you know," she tells her.

Violet always nods, never pushing the subject, and presses a kiss into Minnie's cheek instead. They move away, to opposite sides of the bed. They never address the elephant in the room.

Minnie realises, somewhere along the way, that she can't remember the last time she told Violet she loved her. When Violet had last said it to her, Minnie had laughed as if it was nothing; rolled her eyes and, with a grin, told Violet,

"Thanks, I know."

She'd found it rather funny at the time and maybe Violet had thought she was joking. But looking back...

Looking back it's tragic.

Brody is still staring at Marlon with puppy dog eyes and he still fawns over her as if they've been together for 4 days as opposed to 4 years. Their honeymoon period is far from over; if anything, it's only intensifying, if the number of times Violet has expressed her disdain at being woken to the sound of bedsprings is anything to go by. Not every relationship has to be sexual to survive, of course.

But that isn't the problem, really.

Minnie doesn't understand.

It isn't just the sex; it's everything. It's tricky to work out whether she or Violet is the first to cast the stone; to dislodge an essential part of themselves and cause the last two years of their lives to begin the descent down the hill.

There are times when Violet won’t answer the door to her room. No explanation, no excuses, just hushed voices on the inside whenever Minnie knocks on or calls Violet's name. Violet stops coming to watch her run track. Minnie trains for longer hours as a result and offers to coach some of the newer girls. There are days when they just won't speak. They don't have classes together and either Minnie or Violet are absent from lunch, and then dinner, and they go back to their own rooms, pull out their homework, their phones or, in Minnie's case, her guitar, and the next day the pair act as if nothing is amiss.

They stop communicating in the ways they're supposed to.

They stop caring.

Sophie occasionally questions it; Ruby makes an off-hand remark about them being more distant than usual and Brody pulls Minnie aside and asks, trying to be helpful,

"Are you and Violet happy?"

Minnie swears that they are. She doesn't explain that both are losing interest and that she, personally, hasn't tried to fix it, and neither has Violet, and somehow that's fine, because they'll both carry on in their not-quite-relationship, feigning ignorance, until there's a catalyst for their breakup.

Minnie doesn't take any of Brody's advice, nor listen to Sophie, and Spring Break comes and goes and then it's April.

It's Friday evening and Marlon offers to drive everyone to the outskirts of town, off the highway. They're sitting around the campfire and everything is going well, overall. Violet has her hand on Minnie's thigh; she's talking more frequently to Brody than to Minnie, but Minnie is talking to her sister and to Ruby, and it's fine. The pretence is holding. Louis goes to the truck to pull out another crate of beers and he returns with a plus one — a curly-haired girl wearing a baseball cap and answering to the name of Clementine.

Violet's gaze follows her, and Minnie's gaze follows Violet's.

From the depths, an ugly emotion raises its head. It's jealousy. For whatever reason, Minnie is unsure. Both girls are holding onto something for the simple fact that they can't let go but suddenly, the thought that Violet might take an interest in someone else is sickening.

"I’m not sure you’re really gonna fit in here, Clementine."

"Oh, Minnie, don't say that."

As it goes, Minnie doesn't particularly care if Clementine wants to be a lawyer, or if her family pays for her to go to a fancy school. It's none of her business but, undoubtedly, Violet will care. Violet's weakness lies in the complex of inferiority she carries.

And yeah, it's a low blow.

But it might just have worked, had Clementine not denied it and everyone else not told Minnie to shut up. As a last resort, Minnie leans over to Violet, close to her ear, and hisses,

"Why don't you put your eyes back in?"

"Why don't you calm down?" Violet counters.

She berates Minnie further, later in the night. She pulls back the duvet of Minnie's double bed, her face set with a scowl, and tells her,

"I don't know why you're like this."

"Don't know what you see in her."

Violet scoffs and turns away.

"'Course she's nothin' like us, Minnie, but shit, you do this all the time."

They settle in beside one another and Minnie turns off the light. When she wakes in the morning, Violet is already gone. She never asks what Violet thinks she does all the time because, in short, she doesn't want to know. She thinks she's got a good idea.

There's something in Minnie's file at Ericson about fight versus flight.

In that way, she and Violet are very much alike — two sides of the same coin, where Minnie is fight and Violet is flight. Minnie, too, always feels like she has the losing hand; is always about to get fucked over by someone better.

Clementine is definitely someone better.

Minnie knows this simply from the way she walks and talks and because she knows very well Violet's type from the celebrities she points to in magazines and movies. It doesn't matter that Clementine's real parents are dead and that Minnie's are very much alive. It doesn't matter if underneath she's selfish and obnoxious and carries the same fucked up traumas as their friends at Ericson or if she doesn't because, ultimately, she's someone without a doubt that Violet will find attractive.

There's the crux.

She's the incentive.

Minnie doesn't text Violet, and Violet doesn't text her. They go back to school on Monday morning and act again as if nothing ever happened. They won't speak about Clementine again if they can help it — but the universe has other plans.

Louis makes friends with the girl in the baseball hat.

He asks Violet the following week about seeing her in Greene’s Convenience and Violet doesn't deny it. When she catches Minnie's eye, Minnie holds her gaze. It might be a threat but she isn't sure. The rest of the group seem excited by the prospect; in fact, they talk with familiarity. They _know_ that Louis has been texting Clementine.

They ask what she thought of Louis' house.

Brody props her hand up on her chin and grins at him from across the dining table.

"I think you like her," she tells him.

"Sure," says Louis, and then he laughs, "but not like that."

"What? Come on."

"Serious!" he insists. "Look, whatever it is... She's chill, y'know. But definitely not into me."

"She tell you that?"

"I got a vibe," says Louis, "and trust me, it isn't straight!"

Minnie decides she's heard enough.

She pretends not to notice the momentary widening of Violet's eyes, the renewed interest in her expression, and leaves them all to their business. When Sophie comes back to the room that evening, she's talking about how weird it all is; about how Clementine doesn't seem to care and overlooks their reputation, and it's enough to make Minnie see red.

They aren't charity cases.

Clementine doesn't get a free pass into their group because, oh, how revolutionary, to actually consider the kids at Ericson people as opposed to sad, cautionary tales.

Sophie says that isn't what she means, but Minnie argues all the more loudly because everyone, it seems, is in the loop except for her.

"You're not bein' replaced!" Sophie shouts eventually. "You're my sister, you're my best friend. You might even like Clementine — how would you know?"

"How _would_ I know?" asks Minnie. "Everyone's cosyin' up and no one's told me anythin' about it!"

"I'm not gonna drop you."

"You're not gonna speak to her at all."

"Right," says Sophie, "I see how it is."

"Don't walk away —"

"I'm gonna hang out with the guys."

The door closes behind her and Minnie kicks out at the desk. She paces for what feels like forever. She finds little comfort in the cigarettes she smokes and resorts eventually to shredding up the empty packet in her hands, hissing through grit teeth, shaking all the while.

Mitch says he doesn't really care.

Marlon jeers as if it's funny and tells Minnie, _hey, I'm between a rock and a hard place._ And, of course, he's never gonna go against Brody or Louis for that matter, and those two only encourage Clementine's presence.

Aasim refuses to get involved.

Ruby does a lot of umming and ahhing but overall suggests that maybe Minnie is being a little overdramatic. Unfortunately, she chooses to follow up the advice that there's nothing to worry about with the idea that Violet and Minnie haven't been invested in each other for a long time anyway.

"So what's it matter?"

Minnie is thrown back in the depths and finds herself wishing the girl dead.

The problem (and make no mistake, she _knows_ it's a problem) is that Minnie is fantastic at holding a grudge. She decides right there, right then, that if she can't have Violet, no one can. It isn't fair but neither is the situation and Minnie is struggling to find a single person who's willing to support her.

A few days go by, and the weekend arrives. There's another fight.

For one glorious moment, Minnie thinks she's won, that Clementine will be forgotten, because Violet gets into an argument over God knows what with her dad and she's there on Minnie's doorstep, just like the old days, with a bruise to her eye and a cut on her lip from where, she says, she'd overstepped the line. Her mom's at work.

She says, juddering through the explanation, that she can't go back to fucking school with her face like this; that there'll be an inquiry. It'll be the final straw on the camel's back. She'll be tossed into yet another system where she's scrutinised and tested and things will only get worse and oh God —

"Minnie — Minnie, they'll tell me I'm lyin'!"

It shouldn't be anything to celebrate, not after everything had been going so well for so long, and so Minnie holds the victory close to her chest. She says she'll use her makeup to cover it as best she can during the week and Violet lets her press a packet of frozen peas against her face and slowly, surely, calms down.

Clementine wouldn't know how to handle this.

They sleep together with Violet's head tucked beneath Minnie's chin and they don't immediately get out of bed when they wake. Minnie keeps her arms wrapped around Violet's waist and strives to remember a time when she felt comforted by the brush of Violet's fingers against her hip. Unsuccessfully. In the end, she feels smothered by the smell of Violet's shampoo in her nose and the feel of her body, and Minnie shudders, pulling herself away.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," says Minnie. "Jesus, just gimme some space, huh?"

And Violet does.

Brody covers the bruise on her face, in the end, when Violet doesn't come to Minnie's room on Monday morning and Minnie has forgotten about caring to keep her promise.

She should see it coming.

Brody's 18th birthday rolls around and, where Sophie tells Minnie that she looks good, Violet doesn't comment. She spends the first half an hour of the party wandering around, searching, and then Minnie sees her again on the stairs, talking to Clementine who's blushing rose.

Minnie grabs hold of Violet's arm as she comes back past the living room.

"Why is she here?"

"What?" scoffs Violet. She pulls her arm free. She doesn't waste a second on asking who Minnie means and insists, instead, "Marlon invited her."

And he didn't, of course.

Not entirely.

Louis let’s slip that Clementine had only invited herself because Violet suggested it.

Minnie fights with the urge to slam her guitar into Clementine's smiling face when she finds her later in the kitchen, but settles unfavourably for asking if she's seen her girlfriend. Minnie knows exactly where Violet is, but she's not opposed to dropping hints.

Nothing she has is her own anymore — not even The Stooges — and certainly not Violet, who is the one to swoop to Clementine's rescue when she drinks too much and throws up into Marlon's mother's flowerbeds.

Violet doesn't ask if Minnie wants to share the sofa with her.

It's for the best, as Minnie doesn't want to sleep.

She stays up late, she tetters over the edge into unreasonable and she breaks Marlon's side table, for all the good it does her. Her memories are foggy but Violet must take her home, apologising to her parents because she doesn't have the key and it's 5am and Minnie is still raving. No one is happy, Tennessee tiptoes around her, and the next morning Minnie's mom phones the principal.

Violet insists all the while that she and Clementine were merely being friendly. Minnie doesn't believe her. She had seen the careful way in which Violet looped her arm around the girl's waist, to lead her outside for some air and, before that, heard the lull in Violet's voice when she looked Clementine up and down and told her,

"You look nice tonight, y’know."

She hadn't spared a thought for Minnie in those moments.

She hadn't found the same compliments for her girlfriend earlier in the evening, but for the girl with bare legs and hopeful eyes...

Of course.

Minnie knows that Ruby fawns over them whenever she sees they've done something different with their hair or makeup or clothes, or have simply made an effort. But Violet isn't the same. There's nothing in the world that could convince Minnie that Violet had been acting out of politeness and the shock, the bewildered expression on Clementine's face when Minnie had confronted her about it, only served to irritate her more.

She spits out a few harsh words and Violet tells her to get fucked.

She leaves Minnie with a bitter taste in her mouth.

"I'm not gonna drop you," Sophie tells her again. "If it'll make you happy, I won't speak to Clem at all."

"Right," says Minnie.

That's all she's asking. From everyone.

The rain comes down in the middle of the night and it's difficult not to draw parallels. Minnie used to look at Violet as if she were the sun; as if she were the reason the flowers came back in the springtime and the gold coins at the bottom of the creek sparkled through the water at midday. There's no coming back.

She stays at home for the subsequent week, and she doesn't have to face Marlon or Brody to explain about the side table. Minnie doesn't have to look her counsellor in the eye and maintain, _yeah, everything's fine_ , nor evade Violet's gaze as they leave a classroom and turn decidedly away from each other.

Their relationship used to be perfect.

Minnie spends her time trying to unravel the situation but gets caught in the rubble and descends even further into the ravine of their making. At first, she tells herself it isn't worth the energy it'll take to drag herself out; that the best she can do is pull Violet down with her. Nostalgia alone allows Minnie the faintest of glimpses up at the photographs that line the walls of her bedroom. Her favourite has always been the one of her and Violet, taken a month after their first kiss, when Minnie had cut off her hair and they were grinning brightly into the camera — with scissors in hand and snippets of red settling in the dip of Violet's collarbone.

Minnie swallows the bile in her throat and decides she'll try harder.

When she finally goes back to Ericson, no one sees fit to mention the party or the aftermath. They're all too busy talking about the end of the year that Minnie has forgotten to be excited about, or else Louis' date with Clementine's friend and a Skype call that Minnie wasn't privy to. It hurts to be cast out. Minnie is faced with the realisation that her absence hasn't affected her friend's lives in the slightest, and they've all gone on without her. She tries her best to interject but now there are newer barriers.

Louis, for one, is less chatty than usual. But only towards Minnie.

Brody and Marlon seem to forever be mid-conversation, right until Minnie approaches and then they drop off and kiss each other goodbye.

On one afternoon, Ruby doesn't even save a space for Minnie at lunch.

The world might as well be ending.

Minnie has decided to change but, in the meantime, so has everyone else.

Violet is largely indifferent. She says it's good to see Minnie back but not that she's glad of her return. She asks if Minnie has her head screwed on again right but doesn't wait to hear the answer. They are too familiar with each other's space and, for that reason alone, before long and without much fuss, Minnie finds herself back in Violet and Brody's bedroom. Yet, for the most part, Violet ignores her.

Occasionally, she'll lean forward to show Minnie something stupid on her phone and she sends her the chords of _Ain't It Fun_ , because she knows that Minnie has been looking for ages.

Otherwise, they're silent.

They drift likes ghosts or smoke around one another.

They're still together, as far as Minnie knows, but they're strangers. She keeps telling herself that sooner or later, it'll go back to normal — whatever that means — but on Friday afternoon, she pushes her way into the bedroom after class to find Violet and Brody with the weekend's bags already packed.

Their giggles stop mid-flow.

Marlon stands abruptly from the end of Brody's bed.

"Oh," says Minnie, "you got plans?"

"Kinda last minute," says Marlon, when Violet doesn't reply. "We're, uh, gonna camp out..."

"Right," says Minnie.

They haven't told her and it stings but she tries to fix what she hopes is a careless smile onto her face and nods.

"Yeah, if you give me ten minutes, I can pack a bag —"

"Uhh," says Marlon.

"What?" asks Minnie.

"Clementine's coming with us," says Brody. It comes out through a sudden breath and Marlon almost winces. "She's bringing another tent."

"Another tent."

"Yeah."

"Okay."

Silence.

Violet stands with her back to Minnie and doesn't show even the slightest inclination of turning, to clarify. Brody lowers her eyes to the floor beneath her, mumbling something about _Louis is coming too and so are Ruby and Aasim and_ Minnie chimes out. She doesn't need the guest list to understand.

"I'm not invited," she says, through a wounded laugh, "am I?"

"Hey!" Marlon reaches out. "No one said that —"

"But it's true."

She brushes the hand away.

"You can come," says Marlon hurriedly, "just we thought you wouldn't want to —"

"Not with Clementine being there —" adds Brody.

"I wasn't even a second thought," Minnie tells them.

And she's gone.

She hears Brody calling her name before the door slams but no one comes after her, and her friends go camping as planned that evening while Minnie stays home with her sister. Sophie admits, albeit reluctantly, that _she'd_ been invited.

That the proposal had been extended to the entire group, save one.

She offers the weak suggestion that Violet isn't likely to act untoward; she'll never make a move without knowing the relationship is over and Minnie supposes she's grateful for that.

But it gets her thinking.

It will be the first time Violet has ever stayed in a tent, despite plans being made over the years and always falling through. Minnie has been Violet's first for everything else. Vice versa. She wants to hold onto it, selfishly, because somehow the thought of going it alone is scary, as if without a girlfriend Minnie will be something less than she was before. Not as safe. Not as indestructible.

She and Violet have nothing left. All Clementine is doing is allowing Violet to move away and Minnie knows it's wrong to pin the blame entirely on the other girl. From what little she's heard, Clementine isn't abrasive. She's sweet. She's naive. None of this changes the fact that Minnie is happier to stew in her anger than in fear and refuses to face facts when they're staring her in the face.

She steers all of her hatred over towards Clementine and blames her friends solely for getting stuck in the tangled web she knows Clementine isn't malicious enough to spin.

Still, all weekend, Minnie mulls it over.

By Monday, she has even managed to convince herself she's still in love with Violet but, of course, it's several months too late. It isn't real. Minnie isn't sure if her heart is breaking but she's dizzy with emotion when she turns up to Violet's room, close to midnight, ready to splay out her hand of cards, and Violet groans and tells her,

"I don't wanna see you."

"You have to."

Begrudgingly, she's allowed to stay. It's easier, without Brody hanging onto their every word, whilst pretending she isn't, but there isn't any warmth radiating from Violet. There's none of the previous week's indifference. She's closed and cold.

Minnie asks, "If you could, would you change what's happened?"

"Nothin''s happened," Violet tells her. "That's the problem."

"Did you kiss her?"

"What?"

"On Friday night, did you —"

"Minnie, don't be gross."

"It's a fair fuckin' question!"

"No, it's not."

She's struck a nerve. Violet has visibly bristled. She folds her arms and looks irritably away from Minnie, who's breathing through her nose, taming her temper. Her counsellor would be proud.

"You know I wouldn't," Violet mumbles.

"You'd think about it," says Minnie.

"Ya, I would... I have..."

"It's obvious."

Violet's eyes are guarded when she next looks up, yet there's something there that mirrors Minnie's expression. It's miserable. It's possible they understand each other completely in that moment and, as though to capitalise on the last semblance of peace they'll ever know, Violet makes an awkward gesture. Minnie follows dutifully to the other side of the room and lies down beside her, on the bed, neither girl touching but close enough to smell the detergent on each other's clothes.

Violet's t-shirt has hints of cedarwood.

The detergent her mom buys is always, without mistake, Lavender Cypress.

"I miss who we were," says Minnie quietly.

"Me too," agrees Violet.

They say no more. They fall asleep atop the duvet with the space in between, but then it's morning.

Violet is texting someone who's name isn't saved in her phone, just a number, and turns the screen away when she sees Minnie has opened her eyes. She tells her good morning but little has changed, miraculously, overnight. When Violet drags herself up shortly after to have a shower, Minnie doesn't consider an alternative.

She grabs Violet's phone from beneath the pillow.

The lock-screen is no longer set to the photo of them on New Year's Eve but instead, the elderly dog that lives across the trailer park. Violet has changed her pin code, too, and thumbprint recognition doesn’t work anymore. Gone are the days of Minnie leaving selfies for Violet to find on her camera roll.

Even as she stares, another message comes in.

_Am I allowed to read into Jessie's Girl or like what?_

Minnie damn near breaks the phone in her grip before stuffing it back into place. She'd been kidding herself if she believed, even for a moment, that there was any hope and she knows it now, as she flies down the corridor to her room, and changes into uniform with hot tears blinding her eyes. Whatever argument was avoided the night before bursts forth in the middle of class. Violet has that secretive smile on her face like after the first time she and Minnie slept together, as she texts beneath the desk and smothers laughter in the collar of her shirt.

Minnie, who has only just regained composure, springs to her feet after the third consecutive snigger.

They really do fight about it.

Minnie yells a lot of hurtful shit and so does Violet, but Minnie makes the mistake of bringing up Violet's drunk of a dad and then things get really nasty. They're hurling insults as the class around them erupts into chaos and, when Violet takes flight, Minnie follows. Their Geometry teacher is calling for help. The heads of other students and then teachers appear around classroom doors but the shouting only ceases when Violet takes a corner too quickly and collides with the principal.

Both girls spend the rest of the day outside his office, seething in stony silence as they write their bullshit, phoney letters of apology to one another. Eventually, Violet breaks the tension, telling Minnie with as much scorn as she can muster that she's a lot like her dad.

Minnie jeers. And later, she regrets it.

She and Violet walk back through the deserted corridors, footsteps falling out of line with each other, and Minnie says,

"I didn't mean half the shit I said, y'know."

"Ya," says Violet, "I know."

But Minnie isn't stupid. The spell has already been broken and there's nothing to say or do to fix the situation. The end of term is hours away, and Minnie knows now that they're going to leave Ericson for the summer and they won't text one another, they won't meet up or go to Minnie's house. If Minnie and Violet see each other at all, it'll be in passing, because of Sophie.

She opens her mouth, still unsure of how to vocalise it, but Violet beats her to it.

"This is the end, isn't it?"

"Of us?" says Minnie. "I think so."

They pause outside of Minnie's room and stare at each other. In the movies, thinks Minnie, this is generally where someone cries. Breaks down hysterically. But this time, neither of them do. Violet bites her bottom lip and Minnie licks hers, and it feels instead as if they should give each other a handshake.

They don't move.

"Are you gonna say it," Minnie asks her, "or am I?"

"Say what?" asks Violet.

"That we're finished," says Minnie. "You're breakin' up with me."

It's as simple as that.

Minnie is calm. She takes it surprisingly on the chin and she even _laughs_ when Sophie cautiously asks what's going on. Just like that, it's all over. The years of friendship and romance with Violet, finally, abruptly, coming to an end.

"I don't get what's funny," says Sophie.

Minnie's laughter turns into something of a howl.

She's almost delirious with the ridiculousness of it all, and she doesn't expect any underlying emotions to hit her, at full speed, when a few days later Minnie walks into Greene's Convenience and hears that damn voice. Clementine and her friend are joking over dips, talking about Violet and falling in love over cigarettes.

Minnie is moving without registering her actions.

She's shoving Clementine headfirst into the shelves and taking a hit at her friend, when she dares to get in the way.

She's blaming her for absolutely everything.

She's hysterical for an entirely different reason when later that night, Violet's voice is back on the phone because she knows all about it. Sophie has to wrestle the mobile away, because Minnie is crying like a toddler, sniffling and choking _I love you_ s _don't leave mes_ into the receiver, and Tennessee is approaching cautiously from the hallway with a box of tissues.

Sophie's voice is soft and sad where Minnie's had been crazed.

She says, "I've got nothin' against Clementine, but that's not the point. Minnie's my sister. And she's hurting, too."

There will be a day when Minnie no longer feels like she's been crushed beneath the avalanche.

For a good hard while, she thinks she'll never be okay. It's difficult to separate her life before Violet to the one she knows now, _without_ Violet but having known her, and there's little anyone can say or do to comfort her. In the end, Minnie goes back to therapy.

She explains, "I thought I was fine. I thought I didn't care and I don't, but I do."

The lady in the chair opposite says nothing, and Minnie goes on,

"I only loved her when I thought I'd lose her."

A cardboard box filled with oddities — spare guitar plectrums, a t-shirt Minnie believed to be lost, an assortment of odd socks — is left on the doorstep one day, in early July. It comes with a note from Violet, of course, to say they'd been packed with her things after leaving Ericson and she hadn't known how to best return them.

Minnie presses the t-shirt under her nose and inhales the lingering trace of lavender.

When she dares to venture over to the diner on Dogwood, with a vague hope of bumping into Lyn to wheedle out details that will only serve to hurt her, she has to stop in the doorway. Lyn is pouring coffee for a table of customers in the corner and Violet, instead, is behind the counter, wearing the custom blue apron.

Clementine sits in a sundress beside the cash register. She's swinging her legs, chatting to Violet, and Violet leans over to kiss her.

They look happy.

Neither get the chance to glance up, to see Minnie, before she turns away. It's for the best. She doesn't escape from the area quickly enough however to avoid Louis and his new girlfriend, as they approach hand in hand. Minnie makes eye contact but she doesn't stop.

If Louis turns, awkwardly, as if meaning to call for her as she passes, Minnie doesn't see it.

She takes herself home.

A few weeks later, she gets a postcard from Brody (and Marlon, supposedly) in California. This alone is guiltless enough to replace the dozens of memories that used to line her bedroom.

Her mom doesn't suggest she find a job. She just keeps sliding the $100 per therapy session into Minnie's hand and talks about the insurance, nodding, simpering, trying to be sympathetic, whilst juggling Tennessee and phone calls with their dad, stressing ardently,

"The kids need you; the job isn't important."

It's all she can do to front a smile.

Sophie offers to paint a mural over the old sticky tac marks on Minnie's walls, following the news that, _no, sorry girls, your dad just can't get out of Maryland right now_. She sits for hours at a time on Minnie's bedroom floor, with newspaper covering the carpet, and slowly builds what she promises will be a masterpiece. Tennessee decides to help.

Minnie does nothing in these hours except for lie on her bed, staring at the ceiling and listening to the fantasy stories that Tennessee tells as he mixes the colours for Sophie.

He asks that they call him Tenn. And they do.

He says that people don't feel sad forever and at first, Minnie wants to shout at him. He couldn't possibly understand. She closes her eyes and counts to eleven; she breathes through her nose, and Sophie asks,

"Minnie?"

"I know," she says eventually.

And when she opens her eyes, Tenn is right there in front of her.

"It's just hard if you're on your own," he says.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos, reviews, etc are welcome. I think I say this now out of habit, but. You know.
> 
> [Here's](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2mKdKkoTfV1LCKXMuajKh9?si=RTMIgQbkREW6db6vUIlvbw) your customary playlist.
> 
> Also I've said this before, but I'll say it again - just in case, because I've seen plenty a heated argument over fictional characters. I don't dislike Minnie at all. She was never supposed to be the villain in the traditional sense, to anyone except to Clementine. As it goes, we love and support Minnie on this archive.


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